Surgery in hematopoietic tumors

The role of surgery in the diagnosis of hematopoietic malignancies is undisputed. Many techniques to procure and examine representative tissue samples are recognized in identifying dogs and cats with these diseases. More sophisticated cytologic techniques not yet readily available would be helpful in implementing appropriate diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches. Surgery has a limited role in the management of primary disease. The greatest limitation to surgical intervention is the systemic nature of most hematopoietic malignancies. Other limitations that can more realistically be overcome include early recognition of patients with extranodal lymphomas in Stage I disease, the increased use of surgery and radiation as adjunctive therapies for patients with regional disease, a more aggressive approach to the treatment of disease complications, and the implementation of promising experimental therapies in clinical patients of the future. The surgeon treating dogs and cats with hematopoietic malignancies must, as always, practice accepted principles of bacteriologic and oncologic asepsis and await further advances in veterinary medicine to integrate this discipline more completely with other modalities of therapy.